Woman pleads guilty to ugly child abuse

DENVER — A woman accused of neglecting her four sons in a filthy Denver apartment faces up to seven years in prison after reaching a plea deal with prosecutors.

Lorinda Bailey pleaded guilty to a second offense of child abuse Friday. In exchange, six other counts are being dropped.

Police say Bailey and the boy’s father, Wayne Sperling, kept their sons in an apartment filled with cat feces and flies. When authorities found the children in October, they could communicate only in grunts, were malnourished and weren’t toilet trained.

Bailey and Sperling previously lost custody of other children amid similar allegations.

Prosecutors say the case is among the most horrific they’ve seen, but child abuse laws kept them from pursuing harsher penalties because the children didn’t suffer serious physical injuries.